Election 2017 live updates: Theresa May claims Conservative government supported by DUP will provide 'certainty'
The Independent will be bringing you all the live updates as the UK's next government is formed
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Theresa May has said she will form a Conservative government backed by the DUP, claiming it can bring "certainty" to the UK.
After visiting the Queen, the Prime Minister claimed there was a "strong relationship" between the two parties, amid concern over the DUP's controversial anti-abortion and anti-LGBT policies.
The PM has also apologised to Conservatives who lost last night. She said: "I'm sorry for all those colleagues who lost their seats." She will "reflect on what we need to do in the future to take the party forward" after the result, she added.
The UK voted for a hung parliament after shock losses for the Conservatives in the 2017 general election. With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Tories had 318 seats - eight short of the figure needed to win outright - with Labour on 261, the SNP on 35 and Liberal Democrats on 12.
Jeremy Corbyn's party increase its share of the vote by 9.6 per cent, while the Tories were up 5.5 per cent, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and SNP saw small loses and Ukip's vote collapsed.
The live blog has now ended
Politicians, voters, and even their pets have been heading to polling stations and are posing for the cameras at every opportunity.
The Prime Minister has made clear that she would rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in order to get her programme through Parliament, despite concern over its stance on issues including equal marriage, abortion and climate change.
Making no allusion to losses suffered by the Conservatives, Ms May said she intended to press ahead with her plans for Brexit.
She faced calls from within her own party to consider her own position after the election, which she brought forward by three years in the hope it would deliver an increased majority in the Commons.
Jeremy Corbyn urged her to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: “We are ready to serve this country.”
But, after intensive talks with the DUP, the Prime Minister instead drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.
The final election results came in late on Friday, after Kensington finally declared a Labour win — with a tiny 20-vote majority. They were:
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, has attacked Theresa May's decision to "do a deal" with the DUP to stay in power.
“She must now make clear what the terms of that deal are. The British people have a right to know," he said.
"The sort of government she forms will have profound implications for the Brexit negotiations and the future of the country, especially if it means she is taking sides in the peace process in Northern Ireland.
"Theresa May has taken the British people for granted long enough. She made the election about her own leadership and she lost. Theresa May shouldn't be stitching up a new deal in secret, she should be resigning.”
Steve Crowther, the former Ukip chairman, has been appointed as interim leader of Ukip.
The party announced that he had been elected “overwhelmingly'' by the national executive committee to lead the party while the election of a permanent leader took place.
Mr Crowther resigned his previous post following the EU referendum, saying he was returning to the party's "grassroots".
Now the frenzy is dying down a bit, it's a good time to digest some of the strangest moments of last night's vote. Possibly the most bizarre sight was seeing Theresa May awaiting the result of the count in her constituency next to a genuine candidate called Lord Buckethead, who won more than 200 votes.
He was joined by Elmo, who sadly gained only three votes.
Mr Fishfinger also made an appearance behind Tim Farron in Cumbria, gaining 309 votes
Greg Mulholland, who was unseated by Labour in Leeds North West after 12 years as a Liberal Democrat MP, has posted a note from his children on Twitter.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has called on Nicola Sturgeon to take a second independence referendum “off the table”, branding the demand “a massive political miscalculation”.
The SNP was down 21 seats after the General Election while Ms Davidson saw her party deliver its best result in Scotland for three decades by winning 13 seats.
Ms Davidson conceded the Prime Minister had not been given the mandate she sought and said the British Government must now listen to those who did not vote Tory and should now pursue “an open Brexit, not a closed one”.
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